WORZALA'S WEDNESDAY WORD 2-14-07
Today's Wednesday Word is "snow" as in "There's a band called Snow Patrol."
If you don't know who Snow Patrol is, you probably know the song that's become their big hit here in America. It's called "Chasing Cars" and was featured on the uber-show "Grey's Anatomy". "Let's waste time, chasing cars... if I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?" That's their song.
It's not a bad song. It's catchy, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it. However, it was also a HUGE hit, as happens to any song "Grey's Anatomy" touches (see also The Fray's "How To Save A Life" and, soon, Regina Spektor's "Fidelity"). And since it was a HUGE hit, it was being played on the radio all the time.
Quick peek behind the curtain: I work in radio. When a song is a "hot hit" or "in heavy rotation" it is played, on average, every 2 to 3 hours. Jen and Skip can back me up on this. The reasoning is that popular songs are popular and people want to hear them, and since not everyone spends 8 hours a day by the radio, you want to play the song often enough that a casual listener will be able to hear it, so every 2 to 3 hours is the industry standard. Out here our Top 40 station plays a hit about ever 2 1/2 hours. In some of the bigger cities it's every 2 hours. (Good experiment, listen to your local Top 40/Hot AC station for a day. When they play Daughtry's "It's Not Over" look at your clock. Then look when it plays again. Five'll get you ten it's within 3 hours.)
If you listen to the radio a lot, as I do, this means a song can start to wear on you. Back in High School I had Citizen King's "Better Days" ruined for me in one night when I heard it 3 times in a 5 hour span. On The Same Station. My mother had a similar experience on a road trip years ago when America's "Horse With No Name" first came out. Every time they lost a radio signal and switched over, the new station would moments later start up "Horse With No Name". There was no escape.
We have three Top 40 stations in this market, so you take a song like "Chasing Cars" that's being played about 8 times a day on one station and you multiple that by 3 and basically at any hour you could probably turn on your radio and hear "if I lay here, if I just lay here..." And that's just when it's Programmed to play, that doesn't even factor in requests and Top 10 hours and other "spikes" in airplay. So first I got to know the song, and then I got to like the song, and then I got burned out on the song. For example: The singer never changes his voice. If you stripped away the music, it would be the same monotone voice over and over and over again. And what sort of romance plan is laying around? If you love this woman so much, you should DO something, not just say "Hey, if I flop down here and take a nap like the lazy sod I am, would that be cool with you?"
So that's what my relationship with Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" was like at the beginning of July when my friends Ken and Sarah were married. At the reception, just like every reception at the time, the D.J. put on "Chasing Cars" as one of the slow dance songs. Also at this reception was a girl named Julie. I had known Julie for maybe 4 months at this point. I had tricked her into taking me out to lunch in May and we'd hung out a couple of times, playing Dr. Mario at her apartment. She was wearing a dress with little white polka dots on it and was sitting with Mike, who everyone sorta assumed was kinda her boyfriend. Mike was not asking her to dance. So I asked her, and she said yes. I then proceeded to spend the entire song telling her how much I hated "Chasing Cars". Romance, thy name is Matt.
I kissed her for the first time 11 days later. We've now been going out for 7 months.
When I was single, as I was for a loooooong time, I would listen to songs on the radio and think "that'd be a good 'our song' song." I had hoped it be something like Sting's "Fields of Gold" or Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's "It's Your Love". Maybe my fantasy girlfriend would be a big 80's fan and When In Rome's "The Promise" would make the cut. I didn't know. I know this though, when I first heard "Chasing Cars" I didn't think "yes, that's it. That's a song I want on the soundtrack of my life." But it is. "Chasing Cars" is our song.
At least, it's my song for her. Because when I hear it I think of her, and how she's my favorite person in the whole world. It's probably going to sound stupid, and let's face facts, most romantic gestures, looked at by an outsider, ARE stupid, but when I hear the song, if I keep the radio on it and I listen to it, in my head it's like telling her that I love her. She obviously wouldn't know, because she's not there 95% of the time when the song comes on, but, I don't know, it feels like I'm showing her how much I care none the less. Like I'm proving to some invisible jury how true my love really is.
So the song that I was most tired of has become one of my favorties, because it reminds me of her. I love you Julie, and I know that those three words are said too much, they're not not enough, but it's true and I mean it more every day.
-Matt
If you don't know who Snow Patrol is, you probably know the song that's become their big hit here in America. It's called "Chasing Cars" and was featured on the uber-show "Grey's Anatomy". "Let's waste time, chasing cars... if I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?" That's their song.
It's not a bad song. It's catchy, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it. However, it was also a HUGE hit, as happens to any song "Grey's Anatomy" touches (see also The Fray's "How To Save A Life" and, soon, Regina Spektor's "Fidelity"). And since it was a HUGE hit, it was being played on the radio all the time.
Quick peek behind the curtain: I work in radio. When a song is a "hot hit" or "in heavy rotation" it is played, on average, every 2 to 3 hours. Jen and Skip can back me up on this. The reasoning is that popular songs are popular and people want to hear them, and since not everyone spends 8 hours a day by the radio, you want to play the song often enough that a casual listener will be able to hear it, so every 2 to 3 hours is the industry standard. Out here our Top 40 station plays a hit about ever 2 1/2 hours. In some of the bigger cities it's every 2 hours. (Good experiment, listen to your local Top 40/Hot AC station for a day. When they play Daughtry's "It's Not Over" look at your clock. Then look when it plays again. Five'll get you ten it's within 3 hours.)
If you listen to the radio a lot, as I do, this means a song can start to wear on you. Back in High School I had Citizen King's "Better Days" ruined for me in one night when I heard it 3 times in a 5 hour span. On The Same Station. My mother had a similar experience on a road trip years ago when America's "Horse With No Name" first came out. Every time they lost a radio signal and switched over, the new station would moments later start up "Horse With No Name". There was no escape.
We have three Top 40 stations in this market, so you take a song like "Chasing Cars" that's being played about 8 times a day on one station and you multiple that by 3 and basically at any hour you could probably turn on your radio and hear "if I lay here, if I just lay here..." And that's just when it's Programmed to play, that doesn't even factor in requests and Top 10 hours and other "spikes" in airplay. So first I got to know the song, and then I got to like the song, and then I got burned out on the song. For example: The singer never changes his voice. If you stripped away the music, it would be the same monotone voice over and over and over again. And what sort of romance plan is laying around? If you love this woman so much, you should DO something, not just say "Hey, if I flop down here and take a nap like the lazy sod I am, would that be cool with you?"
So that's what my relationship with Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" was like at the beginning of July when my friends Ken and Sarah were married. At the reception, just like every reception at the time, the D.J. put on "Chasing Cars" as one of the slow dance songs. Also at this reception was a girl named Julie. I had known Julie for maybe 4 months at this point. I had tricked her into taking me out to lunch in May and we'd hung out a couple of times, playing Dr. Mario at her apartment. She was wearing a dress with little white polka dots on it and was sitting with Mike, who everyone sorta assumed was kinda her boyfriend. Mike was not asking her to dance. So I asked her, and she said yes. I then proceeded to spend the entire song telling her how much I hated "Chasing Cars". Romance, thy name is Matt.
I kissed her for the first time 11 days later. We've now been going out for 7 months.
When I was single, as I was for a loooooong time, I would listen to songs on the radio and think "that'd be a good 'our song' song." I had hoped it be something like Sting's "Fields of Gold" or Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's "It's Your Love". Maybe my fantasy girlfriend would be a big 80's fan and When In Rome's "The Promise" would make the cut. I didn't know. I know this though, when I first heard "Chasing Cars" I didn't think "yes, that's it. That's a song I want on the soundtrack of my life." But it is. "Chasing Cars" is our song.
At least, it's my song for her. Because when I hear it I think of her, and how she's my favorite person in the whole world. It's probably going to sound stupid, and let's face facts, most romantic gestures, looked at by an outsider, ARE stupid, but when I hear the song, if I keep the radio on it and I listen to it, in my head it's like telling her that I love her. She obviously wouldn't know, because she's not there 95% of the time when the song comes on, but, I don't know, it feels like I'm showing her how much I care none the less. Like I'm proving to some invisible jury how true my love really is.
So the song that I was most tired of has become one of my favorties, because it reminds me of her. I love you Julie, and I know that those three words are said too much, they're not not enough, but it's true and I mean it more every day.
-Matt
Labels: Worzala's Wednesday Word
posted by Matt Worzala at
9:02 AM
3 Comments:
Ahhh, what a very sweet way of telling your girlfriend you love her. And, now you know why I only listen to my iPod in the car. I can't stand "heavy rotation." Gah. Do I ever know what that term means, having worked in radio for two years. But I will say, I have this strange affinity for "Horse With No Name." Have you ever listened to the lyrics? "There were plants and birds and rocks and things ..." WTF? It is catchy, just like "Chasing Cars," which incidentally, made me cry when I saw Snow Patrol live a few months ago. Stupid heavy rotation.
By
Jen, at 6:11 PM
I was always hoping for my song to be that cool, omnious song from Lord of the rings: return of the king.
You know, that cool one that goes like "DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN.... DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN... DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DA DA DA DA DA DA DA!"
By
TDP Jared, at 9:11 PM
BTW..."Horse With No Name" trivia: the only Top 10 song with only 2 chords...there isn't even a bridge! One of the (many) reasons I left a radio station in Boise was the 2 1/4 hour rotation on the Top 10, and a 3 1/2 hour rotation on the Top 11-20. To this day, I can't stand to listen to "Who Are You? by the Who (among others)...and we played the long, album version! We're talking 1978 here...some things never change.
By
James, at 9:14 AM
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